Inflammation is a host defense system that is closely related to the immune response to foreign matter, e.g. infection, and is also a cause of disease and death, e.g., autoimmune disease. The four basic symptoms of inflammation are redness, swelling, heat and pain, which represent the consequence of capillary dilation with edema and the migration of phagocytes to the affected area. Acute inflammation is characterized by neutrophil infiltration. Inflammation can become chronic, and is characterized by infiltration by mononuclear phagocytes and lymphocytes. As inflammation is widely involved as a cause of disease as well as a defense mechanism against disease, there is a need to establish screening for understanding human diseases caused by modulation of the inflammatory process. Identifying proteins, their ligands and substrates, and downstream signal transduction pathways involved in the inflammatory process in humans is important for developing therapeutic regents to treat infection, and to treat other diseases of the inflammatory process, such as autoimmune disease.